Self-Awareness Inventory

As you probe the possibilities for your speech of introduction, explore the following self-awareness inventory:

Speaker s Notes

yourself and others to be quite rewarding. Just remember: You are not on a tabloid

talk show. You don t want to embarrass listeners with personal disclosures they

would just as soon not hear. If you are uncertain about whether to include personal

material, discuss it with your instructor. The general rule to follow is, When in doubt,

leave it out!

1. Was your cultural background important in shaping you?

2. Was your environment a major influence?

3. Did some person have an impact on you?

4. Were you shaped by an unusual experience?

5. Is there an activity that motivates you?

6. Has your work had a major impact on who you are?

7. Does some special goal or purpose guide the way you live?

8. Does a value have great meaning for you?

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 3 Your First Speech: An Overview of Speech Preparation 67

1. Although we have defined ethos in terms of public

speakers, other communicators also seek to create

favorable impressions of competence, integrity,

goodwill, and dynamism. Advertisers always try to

create favorable ethos for their products. Bring to

class print advertisements to demonstrate each of

the four dimensions of ethos we have discussed.

Explain how each ad uses ethos.

2. Select a prominent public speaker and analyze his

or her ethos. On which dimensions is this speaker

especially strong or weak? How do these dimensions

affect the person s leadership ability? Present

your analysis for class discussion.

3. Political advertisements often do the work of

introducing candidates to the public and disparaging

their opponents. Study the television or print

advertisements in connection with a recent political

campaign. Bring to class answers to the following

questions:

a. What kinds of positive and negative identities

do the advertisements establish?

b. Which of the forms of supporting material

(narratives, examples, testimony, facts and

statistics) do they emphasize?

c. Which of these advertisements are most and least

effective in creating the desired ethos? Why?

d. Which of the self-awareness inventory questions

discussed in this chapter might explain

how the candidates are introduced?

4. As the introductory speeches are presented in

your class, build a collection of word portraits

of your classmates as they reveal themselves in

their speeches. At the end of the assignment,

analyze each of these autobios to see what you

have learned about the class as a whole. What

kinds of topics might your classmates prefer? Do

you detect any strong political or social attitudes

to which you might have to adjust? Submit a

report of your analysis to your instructor, and

keep a copy for your own use in preparing later

speeches.

5. Summarize your own adventure of preparing for

your first speech. Which of the steps identified in

this chapter were most difficult for you? Why?

What have you learned about speech preparation

that might be useful for your next speech? Submit

your report and analysis to your instructor.

Explore and Apply the Ideas in This Chapter

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

A Little Chocolate

Sabrina Karic

Sabrina Karic gave this self-introductory speech to her class at the University of Nevada-Las

Vegas. Her speech is built round a master narrative that features personal experience as the

shaping force in her life. She tells about surviving the ethnic cleansing that took place in

Bosnia and Herzegovina during the early 1990s when she was a child. As she described this

situation, her listeners were spellbound by her power and passion.

[To start her speech, Sabrina plays a sound effect of an explosion.]

I want you to remember yourselves as you were when you were six years old.

And now I want you to imagine yourselves living in a time, a place, a country, where

you constantly hear the noise I have just played, all around you. I come from a

small, incredibly durable, unspeakably tragic country named Bosnia and

Herzegovina. In 1992, while many of you were playing with your toys or learning

how to ride a bike, I was living through a nightmare. Yes, I was six years old, not

quite ready to experience war. But on the day of May 28, I heard the first gun shots

and my happy childhood ended. Almost overnight, my family, which had been rich

and privileged, plunged into homelessness and poverty.

After the Serbs forced us out of our home, we had to endure endless nights

sleeping under trees while rain poured down on us and mice crawled over our bodies.

We finally made our way to Gorazde, a city that was surrounded by the Serbians

and held under siege for months. The local authorities kept us all barely alive by distributing

food among the families. Typically we would receive each week thirty

pounds of flour, three pounds of beans, one pound of sugar, and two liters of oil.

Each day, my mom made bread that was one inch thick. She divided it in half; one

half for breakfast and the other for dinner. Then each half was divided in five even

pieces, one piece for me, my mom, my dad, my sister, and my cousin, who at that

time lived with us.

It was incredibly hard for us. We often ran out of food before the next week s

food distribution. Sometimes the supplies were delayed or even not available. I can

tell you that nothing etches itself more in young memory than the pain of hunger.

During those days, I never dreamed of having a big house, a pool, or a doll I could

play with. I simply prayed to God for chocolate.

On January 31st of 1993, my parents decided to leave for Grebak, where the

Bosnian army was situated. They would have to sneak through the enemy lines to

reach the army barracks. If they survived, the army would give them food to bring

back to us. If they didn t make it well, we didn t talk about that. If they didn t try,

we were all going to starve anyway. When my parents departed, they had to leave my

sister and me on our own. Luckily, we had cousins who lived in Gorazde long before

the war began. They took us in, and I can tell you that if it hadn t been for them, we

would have starved to death. Days passed, and each day we waited for our parents.

And our despair began to grow. We heard rumors that they had run into mine fields

and been killed. We felt so profoundly alone.

Then on February 7th, a miracle happened. The door opened, and there were

our parents! I remember all the crying and hugging and kissing, and I remember

hope flooding back into our hearts. Our parents explained that many people had in

fact died, but that God had spared them.

That day I learned the meaning of gratitude, as well as sorrow for all of those

whose parents would not return. But then our thoughts turned to food. My parents

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